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Tjärnblom CD Release

Kip Peltoniemi opens

Tjärnblom is Cheryl Paschke, Val Eng, Mary Crimi and Joe Alfano—friends who get together to play Scandinavian music. Minneapolis residents, we travel on a modern “Snoose Boulevard Highway” and go where the music takes us. Our repertoire consists of tunes, old and new, both for dancing and listening, played on nyckelharpas, fiddles, mandolins and a harmonium. We take the name Tjärnblom in honor of Cheryl's grandfather; translated from Swedish, it means woodland lake flower.

2 nyckelharpas + 1 mandolin + 1 harmonium =

40 strings and 1 bellows strong!

Kip Peltoniemi hails from Minnesota's famous Finnish Triangle, which is located in the center of the eastern section of the western part of the southern portion of northern Minnesota. At one time, the Triangle was a hotbed of Finnish-American button accordion music. Sadly, Kip is the last of the old-time button accordion players from the Triangle. As you may know, DNR efforts to re-introduce button accordion players into the Finnish Triangle have failed, so you better see Kip while you have the chance. His one-man show features unusual accordion instrumentals, humorous songs, dubious folklore, tall tales, and out-and-out lies. All of Kip's musical material has been independently tested, grade and certified, achieving an incredible 99.7 % -- or Grade AAA -- ethnicity rating!